Strange and dark and confusing with characters I didn't care about and a rather 'precious' way of writing. It showed promise but for me, didn't deliver.

A thoroughly average book. This novel is an English teacher’s wet dream, full of circling commentary that often makes very little sense and adds nothing to the overall plot.

The narrator was deeply unlikeable, while she started out as a fairly interesting character she quickly evolved into a bargain bin Joe from You. It is well-written, but in a self-satisfied ‘I’m so clever’ manner that very quickly becomes exhausting.

I very rarely DNF but at the halfway point in this book where almost nothing had happened, we came close. The redeeming quality was the genuinely surprising ending, but this definitely felt like a book to drag yourself through.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Paper Wasp tells the story of Abby Graven, a recluse and a college dropout who lives at her parents’ home in Michigan. Once a budding artist, she gave up her art career and now she spends her time working as a supermarket cashier. She’s obsessed with her former best friend, Elise Van Dijik who is now a Hollywood starlet. Abby has been stalking her since they lost touch in high school. She reads the tabloids and buys anything that has Elise’s name or picture on it.

At night Abby escapes through the films of her favorite director, Auguste Perren, a cult figure known for his exclusive creative institute the Rhizome. Inspired by Perren, Abby draws fantastical storyboards based on her often bizarre dreams, a visionary gift she keeps a secret.

Her life dramatically changes when she learns about her high school reunion and that Elise, will be attending. Her reappearance has become this little flicker of sunlight that brightened Abby’s stygian life. From the beginning, we get a sense that Abby has been deeply infatuated with Elise even after they drifted apart years ago. She’s clearly not over her infatuation.

At the reunion, Elise is excited to see Abby and makes a casual remark that Abby should get in touch if she ever visits Los Angeles. Not too surprising, months later, Abby shows up unannounced at Elise’s doorstep.

Unable to turn Abby away, Elise offers her a place to stay in her home. She shows Abby around L.A. and introduces Abby to her boyfriend, Rafael. Elise even offers Abby a job as her personal assistant. Through Abby’s POV, the reader learns more about Elise’s glamorous lifestyle. The more Abby becomes intertwined with Elise’s life, the more she realizes how insecure her friend truly is. Underneath the glossy surface and the perfect figure the tabloid makes Elise out to be, she is just lonely and disillusioned.

One day, Abby tries to bounce off the idea of showcasing her artwork to a renowned Swiss artist but Elise quickly disparages Abby’s suggestion with an offhand remark. From then on Abby starts to harbor a deep resentment for Elise. Her resentment soon festers into something sinister as Abby secretly sets out to sabotage Elise: from discreetly getting a job at an exclusive retreat for actors—where Elise is a member— to sabotaging her wedding, sending Elise’s life downward spiral. As if that isn’t enough, Abby does the unthinkable.

Told from Abby’s perspective, The Paper Wasp is a captivating and unsettling story that explores the fine line between loyalty and obsession and examines the mind of a disturbed person. Not to mention the lengths Abby was willing to go to wheedle her way into Elise’s life and gain her trust.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and couldn’t put it down. If you like psychological thrillers, you’ll love this book. I would recommend this one.

Thank you to Lauren Acampora, NetGalley, and Grove Atlantic for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Landing somewhere in between Marisha Pessl's Night Film and You by Caroline Kepnes, Lauren Acampora's debut novel The Paper Wasp aims to disturb while it enraptures. A dreamlike combination of the pressures of Hollywood and the increasingly dangerous delusions of an unstable main character, the book personifies all the nasty and envious emotions stirred up by the all-too-frequent comparison exercises of one's own social media profiles to those of old schoolmates.

Abby Graven is a college dropout living with her parents in Michigan when she gets news that her childhood best friend Elise, now a rising starlet in Hollywood, will be in attendance at their ten year high school reunion. The two did not have a dramatic falling out, but rather a period of growing apart as is typical of friendships in the preteen years made all the more likely when one of the pair leaves town to pursue an acting career. Abby's wounds from losing her close friendship with Elise have never quite healed and she has obsessively followed her former friend's career from the very start. More than that, reoccurring dreams lead her to believe that their relationship is far from over. Their drunken encounter at said reunion cements this fact for Abby:

I took a last look at you. Your eyes stared up at me, my old friend, and I saw something pleading in them, imploring me. My dreams hadn't been wrong. They were never wrong; they were truer than life. As I held your gaze, I understood that our bond had never truly been broken. You needed me as much as ever.

This chilling use of the second person has the effect of creating lingering questions at the back of the reader's mind during the reading experience. Since Abby is directly addressing Elise through most of the book, is this a confession? Is this entire book a postmortem letter to Elise intended to clear things up or apologize? The perspective choice also insists we harbor suspicions about the true motivations and actions of the main character as we can see how she is nearly constantly disconnected from reality. It gives a sense that she is teetering on the edge of something desperate, providing the same uncomfortable compulsion to keep reading as does a work of true crime.

Through the events of the novel, we see that many of Abby's actions would indeed demand an apology from her. Shortly after their brief encounter at the reunion, Abby has another vivid dream, leading her to the unshakable conclusion that she must return to Elise. She steals her parents' credit card, flies to Los Angeles, and begins nestling into Elise's life like a tick. One would assume that the Hollywood star would be in no need of this brand of clingy friendship and would shake off Abby's stalker-like advances, but the pressures of fame and a burgeoning lack of trust in industry peers leads her to latch onto the familiar. Elise lets Abby move into her home and eventually hands her a job as her personal assistant.

While at first our main character may seem to be a run-of-the-mill moocher, her increasingly acidic commentary makes her all the more insidious. Abby doesn't only wish to live off of Elise, but she more and more begins to see her friend as a vehicle for her own artistic ambitions. In fact, she is adamant that she's the more talented and deserving of the pair of them. When Abby discovers that Elise is a member of the institution founded by fictional famed director Auguste Perren, a man whose work Abby has been bewitched by for years, she begins to take action on this sense of superiority. She weasels her way into sessions at this dream-focused institute called the Rhizome, giving her all the more powerful delusions of the clairvoyant power of her dreams.

Meanwhile, Elise remains ignorant of the trouble brewing inside her own home. Distracted by the demands of an upcoming role and concerns about her latest questionable romance, Elise needs the support of a friend that Abby willingly provides in droves. The dramatic irony builds as
the severity of Abby's entitlement and resentment does. As much as these two characters seem to need each other, the audience knows the truth: this is not a symbiotic relationship. Abby is the parasite to Elise's host. We know it is only a matter of time before Abby claims what she believes is rightfully hers; we are only left to question what she is going to expropriate.

Any logistical concerns about the unlikely arrangement between Elise and Abby are more or less swatted away by the author who attempts to detract attention away from the milky and surreal sheen the book achieves. Yet there are very real questions left unanswered by the author's skewed focus on atmosphere. We needed to see Abby make to more trippy visits to the Rhizome in order to fully grasp their ideology and to build up a strong cult around Perren as the aforementioned Marisha Pessel did with Night Film's unnervingly realistic horror director Stanislas Cordova. To be fully sucked into Abby's mindset, it is necessary to understand the appeal of Perren's ideas to make sense of her idolization of him. In this book the director simply lacks the needed gravitational pull to make Abby's hero worship believable.

As a disturbing psychological thriller heavy in atmosphere that doubles as a cautionary tale of who we should allow reentry into our lives, this book mainly hits the mark. However, it does conclude leaving us with a feeling of longing and incompletion, not unlike what Abby felt for Elise in the years before they rekindled their friendship. A bizarre and hazy aura created by Abby's dreams and the churning sense of dread fostered by her delusions is muddled by inconsistent characterization and a lack of powerful narrative focus. Readers are left to turn to their own dreams to imagine what might have been had these elements been given their due.

This a truly strange book that I somehow couldn't put down. A very dark story, it's the antithesis of Hollywood though it's set in L.A.

Reading The Paper Wasp was a little like watching film noir. You don't really understand what it's about and you arrive at the end none the wiser but somehow you can't take your eyes off of it. It's like being pulled into a bizarre walking dream. But then isn't that what we read books and watch films to achieve? A waking dream state?

Full review to come once I recover a little!

I just couldn't get into this book. I struggled to finish it, and didn't love it. It had so much promise, but I was completely disappointed!

If you are looking for a dark, intense read, you have found it in The Paper Wasp. The story is of a best-friends-forever friendship between two young girls, Abby and Elise, which becomes obsessive and toxic.

The girls grew up in a small town in Michigan, had sleepovers every weekend, and shared all of their secrets, hopes and dreams with each other. Abby is the creative one, writing and illustrating stories which Elise then acts out. The agreed upon plan was to make movies together when they grew up, with Abby writing the scripts and Elise cast as the star. The friendship is put on the back burner when Elise becomes popular in their senior year and is interrupted entirely when she goes to LA after high school to pursue acting and Abby remains at home, working in a super-market.

Elise becomes a starlet and returns for a high school reunion. Abby, holding herself distant at first, is thrilled when Elise seeks her out and tells her how important Abby is to her. Abby is in her glory days once again!

I don't want to say much more about the twists, highs and lows, resentment, love, naivete, betrayals, obsession and oh so much more that lie ahead for these two women. What is so interesting about this book is that it is told entirely from Abby's viewpoint, so we never know how much and what is real and what is not.

Acampora maintains a dark and sinister atmosphere throughout the book which kept me turning pages as there were oh so many possibilities and I had to know what each of the women would do! This gets 3.5 stars rounded to 4 stars from me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Grove Press for allowing me to read an ARC of this novel in exchange for an unbiased review.

THE PAPER WASP is a short novel that packs a punch. It was unexpected, dreamy, and has a pretty great twist at the end. Whenever I see a novel set in Hollywood or involving celebrities, I'm usually automatically intrigued, so the synopsis of this book sounded perfect. I couldn't really tell what was going on in the beginning, but I loved the premise.

Abby, a depressive and solitary woman in Michigan, gets wrapped up in the LA lifestyle as the personal assistant of her former best friend from middle school (and current Hollywood It-girl). However, the book is not vapid, funny, or light in the least. It is a great book if you are interested in toxic friendships, the dark side of Hollywood publicity, and super weird Scientology-like cults. It is not fast paced, however, so expect a slow, and somewhat dark and twisty, burn.

This story of a friendship turned into an obsession was a strangely riveting read. Abby is an artist , something of a loner, who feels like a failure because of dropping out of college years ago. She spends her days working at the local grocery store , drawing the images she remembers from her vivid dreams and studying the work of a reclusive and experimental filmmaker by the name of Perren. The only light in her otherwise mundane life is catching up with the glamorous exploits of her childhood best friend, Elise, now a Hollywood star on the rise, and her obsession manifests in prophetic dreams of them rekindling the friendship. When she learns that Elise is returning to the town for a school reunion she hopes to reconnect, and sure enough, by the end of the night they have exchanged numbers and promises to stay in touch.
Little did Elise expect that Abby would just quit her job, steal her parent's credit card to pay for a one way flight and call her from the airport to tell her she has arrived in LA. Despite her surprise, Elise invites Abby to stay and soon the two women are inseparable. Abby learns that the Hollywood lifestyle is not all it is cracked up to be and that her friendship with Elise is not as mutual as she thought, and in her disappointment she commits a terrible act that will change her life forever.
This is a strange and complex story of a very unhealthy and imbalanced friendship, told by a somewhat unreliable narrator and I have to say I found myself engrossed in it from almost the beginning. As the story unfolded, the pace picked up and the cracks started to deepen, I found myself unwilling to put the book down, and the ending was disturbing yet strangely perfect.. The characters are compelling and believable, but certainly not always likable,which I always find interesting.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I was reading this book for inclusion in our subscription box and unfortunately, this book was not for us. I had a hard time getting into it and found it quite expository, lots of "tell" rather than "show." I won't leave a review anywhere else.

This book is… it is something. A good something, a strange something, a profound something, and a compulsively readable something.

I tried starting it last month and put it down, doubting I’d go back to it. But I picked it up again and I couldn’t put it down, and now I’m left without it because it’s over.


My original struggles with THE PAPER WASP were, I think, because of the sort of second-person narrative. I haven’t read much of that, much of stories told with “you did this…” and “you smiled at me…” It was jarring. But something about it, something about what I did read that first time (up to 7% before I put it down), stuck with me. Like a sort of looming challenge or Perrenian dream (read the book and you’ll get that reference). So I did.

And I was carried away into Abby’s world, a world where she doesn’t quite measure up to… to really anyone else. This is because she holds herself up against everyone else. She’s constantly in search of some way to defeat herself, even under the guise of advancing herself. Good things happen and Abby walks away from them. People are kind to her and she walks away from them. She’s obsessed with celebrity gossip magazines. The irony is that she doesn’t even dream of measuring up, not even in Hollywood where her childhood best friend hires her as an assistant and Abby would rather work behind the scenes of films than in front of the camera. Abby just wants to be. Not even good enough in her own right, but just be.

It’s kind of heartbreaking.

Even as she acts scattered and stalker-y, getting a second job at the acting school where her best friend goes to study acting but avoiding her friend at all costs. Abby still has to keep herself separate, for reasons even she doesn’t seem to fully grasp.

It’s only when she goes home to Michigan to see her long-estranged sister that she finds a purpose of sorts. She finds someone lower than she is, someone who probably would aspire to be her.

The choices she makes after that are not clear-headed. They are not moral and ethical. But they are hers. And, in a way, they are the first choices she makes for herself. It doesn’t make them right, it doesn’t make Abby good.

It makes for an incredible novel.

Read this book if you like reading: unreliable narrators, toxic friendship, second-person narrative, atmospheric contemporaries, Hollywood, stories that make you uneasy

Don’t read this book if you don’t like reading: mental illness, depression, alcohol abuse (including while pregnant), BDSM, immoral choices

(I received a copy of THE PAPER WASP through NetGalley and Grove Atlantic in exchange for an honest and original review. All thoughts are my own.)

What a narrator! Abby fits in well with other recent "Stinky Heroines of Repulsive Realist Fiction" (as termed by Hillary Kelly of Vulture). A twisted tale of friendship, celebrity and motherhood. I plowed through this book and would love to know what happens next. Thank you to Grove Press and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I am DNF'ing this book at 15% because I "tasted" enough of it to realize that it just wasn't my cup of tea. I won't be rating or reviewing this anywhere. Just the same, thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book.

Modern day Hollywood, dark friendship, stalking, obsession, and twists and turns. Dark, twisted and so deeply gripping.

Two childhood best friends reconnect at their high school reunion in Michigan. Elise has become a famous Hollywood actress, while Abby, brilliant, but unfocused, has struggled to leave her parents' house. A casual invitation to visit Los Angeles leads to a months-long stay where Abby takes on the role of assistant, best friend, and confidante. Filled with surrealist imagery, The Paper Wasp, explores an obsessive female friendship that is utterly bizarre.

Much like my experience watching a surrealist film, I was never entirely sure about the motivations of the narrator (Abby) or if I entirely understood her dreams. I enjoyed the book the most when I could look past my hesitations and just give myself over to the story.

I received this book free from NetGalley/Grove Atlantic in exchange for an honest review.

First, this cover is absolutely GORGEOUS! I would buy this without even reading a summary based on title and cover alone, no lie. It's amazing! This book should be in a genre all its own - difficult to define, but extremely enjoyable. I really felt the main characters descent and spiral into darkness, and loved every second of it.

I went into this book thinking it would only be about an uncomfortable obsession between friends. Then Acampora took a swift left turn with the plot and the Darkside we entered was like the black hole of platonic relationships.
With an undercurrent of <i>Single White Female</i> vibes, <i>The Paper Wasp< creeps slowly, but relentlessly toward a wildly uncomfortable & obsessive middle, denouement, and ending.

Written in first person, there is no escaping Abby's steady decline into "enlightenment" about her recovered friendship and all that it means for her future. These are murky waters and fans of good psych thrillers will enjoy treading them.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, Grove Press, and the author for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Paper Wasp book review - no spoilers.
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This was a very different read. Right from the get-go the composition was a bit odd, albeit well crafted. It felt almost... Artsy. If that makes sense. Without giving too much away, here's how I experienced the novel.
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The main character, Abby, is unveiled as someone who seems nearly obsessed with her best friend from her past who has received some fame. When past and present collide at their high school reunion I thought perhaps the story would take a different direction but things began to slow down and progress somewhat predictably. Abby's life has a rather depressing arc and although she's ecstatic to be in Elise's world again there's a very dark and heavy undertone. So much judgment and negativity. A craving to punish her even. Which is odd considering her desire to reignite their friendship. There are some dark times elluded to from Abby's past that are never really fully explained which is peculiar because one of the incidences in particular seems crucial but you never get the full picture of it. Elise is not innocent either, treating Abby hot and cold, as a best friend and as hired help. Soon Abby realizes her own desires and begins to advance towards what she wants most. Initially trying to avoid stepping on Elise's toes. Until she's not...
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Now towards 3/4 of the way through it takes a sharp, strange turn which resulted in confusion for me and I struggled to follow along. I ended up having strong negative feelings for every character. It really wasn't what I was expecting. Perhaps you will fair better with it than me. You can check this one out June 21, 2019.
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Thank you to Netgalley and Grove Press for the advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

Two childhood best friends, Abby and Elise having taken different paths following school drifted apart and lost contact meet up again at their 10 year school reunion. Whilst Abby still lives at home with her parents after dropping out of college and working in the local supermarket, Elise now lives in California and has become a famous Hollywood actress. Told from Abby’s point of view it follows both women as they rekindle their friendship.

Abby has been following Elises career which would be natural being that they were once best friends but it soon becomes apparent that Abby is not just a fan or friend, she is dangerously obsessed and jealous of her old friend. She takes the label super fan to whole new level.

At the reunion after a few too many drinks Elise invites Abby to come and visit her in LA, it was more of a polite throwaway comment as opposed to a genuine invite. A few weeks later Abby turns up on Elise’s doorstep and the short visit turns into a long term stay and Abby becomes Elise’s personal assistant, integrating herself into every aspect of Elise’s life.

Some of the narration is told via Abby’s dreams and visions bringing a whole other level to the story which follows the women friendships which turns into something dark and complex. The whole story is filled with jealously, obsession, ambitions, desires and mental health issues.

The book is extremely well written, filled with vivid descriptions that make the whole story come to life in your minds eye. The characters are complex, relatable at times as well as a little disturbing. Neither women are particularly likeable but that’s what makes this book so great.

A complex, character driven plot with a dark chilling plot line that comes to life on the pages. The writing style and storyline may not be to everyone’s liking, I think this book will be a bit like marmite, you will either love it or hate it!

The Paper Wasp will be published in the UK on 13 June 2019 and can be preordered now. I highly recommend it to literally everyone so you can judge for yourself.

A big thank you to the writer Lauren Acampora, publishers Grove Atlantic and Quercus, and NetGalley for my digital advance copy in exchange for an honest and independent review.

https://debbiesbookreviews.wordpress.com/2019/06/07/the-paper-wasp-by-lauren-acampora/

Woah. Woah. Woah.

The Paper Wasp is part Single White Female, part Heavenly Bodies, part thinly veiled Scientology feeling - cult, part - something I've never read. Abby and Elise were best friends during childhood, until Elise started taking acting more and more seriously. Now, years later - after a chance encounter at their high school reunion - Abby decides to follow Elise to Hollywood. WITH NO PLAN.

What follows is a story of sexual desire, mental problems, drug use and a weird obsessive relationship that benefits no one. It's hard to read because it's something that has happened or could happen. Abby is clearly mentally unstable, living in her dreams and tries to follow those strange dreams (see....Heavenly Creatures.). HOWEVER - because this book is told from Abby's perspective - it's hard to see what is real and what isn't.

What the overall theme is that Abby is a terrible person. Elise is a terrible person. Everyone is terrible.
I love books like that.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.